1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure is generally directed to child seating and sleeping devices, and more particularly to a device that can be converted from an infant sleeping bassinet to an infant or child seat.
2. Description of Related Art
Infant sleeping devices are known in the art and are provided in a number of different forms. One form is a bassinet that has a generally flat and substantially horizontal sleeping surface and a side wall surrounding the sleeping surface. Infant seats are also known in the art, such as in the form of an infant carrier, a swing, a rocker, or a bouncer seat. These types of seats typically have a non-flat seating surface with a seat bight region between a seat back and a seat bottom. Infants are not yet able to sit upright or hold their head up or steady. Thus, the seat bottom is typically not horizontal but tilted at least slightly up and toward the seat bight region. Also, the seat back is typically not vertically upright or horizontally flat, but instead is reclined rearward to a degree so that the infant is still fully supported by the seating surface in a comfortable and safe seated position. Products that combine the features of a bassinet and an infant seat are not particularly well known.
TINY LOVE™ has offered a convertible seating device known as a 3-in-1 Rocker Napper. The Tiny Love product has a bassinet mode and a seat mode and is also a rocker mode. The seating/sleeping surface is formed from plastic and has a seat bottom and a seat back. The seat back incline angle can be adjusted among a flat condition, an intermediate orientation, and a reclined seat orientation. A fabric side wall is formed using two fabric sections, a head section and a foot section. Each is supported by a separate, independent tube. At least one of the tubes is independently pivotable about a pivot point along each side of the seat relative to the other tube. To switch the seat between the bassinet and seat configuration, the top tube or tubes must be separately moved to separately deploy or drop the side walls or curtains surrounding the seating surface independent of adjusting the position of the seating surface.
Fisher Price has offered a seating device known as the Rock and Play, which uses a sling style seat. The seat can be adjusted between a nearly flat sleeping position and an inclined seating position. A webbing strap is used to incline the sling seat. There is no bassinet style side wall or curtain surrounding the seating surface in the sleeping position. The seat thus does not resemble a bassinet in the sleeping mode, but the seat is still marketed as a sleeping device due to the extreme, nearly flat reclined position. Others have offered seating devices that are similar to this Fisher-Price product as well.